Talks on Talking eBook

PREFACE

Good conversation implies naturalness, spontaneity,
and sincerity of utterance. It is not advisable,
therefore, to lay down arbitrary rules to govern talking,
but it is believed that the suggestions offered here
will contribute to the general elevation and improvement
of daily speech.

Considering the large number of persons who are obliged
to talk in social, business, and public life, the
subject of correct speech should receive more serious
consideration than is usually given to it. It
is earnestly hoped that this volume will be of practical
value to those who are desirous of developing and
improving their conversational powers.

Appreciative thanks are expressed to the Editors of
the Homiletic Review for permission to reprint
some of the extracts.

GrenvilleKleiser.

NewYorkcity,may, 1916.

Boys flying kites haul in their white-wing’d
birds:
You can’t do that way when you’re
flying words.
“Careful with fire,” is good advice
we know;
“Careful with words,” is ten times
doubly so.
Thoughts unexpress’d may sometimes fall
back dead,
But God Himself can’t kill them once they’re
said!

—­Will
Carleton.

The first duty of a man is to speak;
that is his chief business in this world; and
talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or more,
is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It
costs nothing; it is all profit; it completes
our education; it founds and fosters our friendships;
and it is by talk alone that we learn our period and
ourselves.

—­Robert
Louis Stevenson.

Vociferated logic kills
me quite;
A noisy man is always
in the right—­
I twirl my thumbs, fall
back into my chair,
Fix on the wainscot
a distressful stare;
And when I hope his
blunders all are out,
Reply discreetly, “To
be sure—­no doubt!”

—­Anon.

TALKS ON TALKING

THE ART OF TALKING

The charm of conversation chiefly depends upon the
adaptability of the participants. It is a great
accomplishment to be able to enter gently and agreeably
into the moods of others, and to give way to them with
grace and readiness.

The spirit of conversation is oftentimes more important
than the ideas expressed. What we are rather
than what we say has the most permanent influence
upon those around us. Hence it is that where a
group of persons are met together in conversation,
it is the inner life of each which silently though
none the less surely imparts tone and character to
the occasion.

It requires vigorous self-discipline so to cultivate
the feelings of kindness and sympathy that they are
always in readiness for use. These qualities
are essential to agreeable and profitable intercourse,
though comparatively few people possess them.